Use of bitcoin as a form of payment doubled in 2018 on darknet market sites, where users can buy anything from illegal drugs to fake IDs, even though the price of the cryptocurrency crashed, according to a study by data firm Chainalysis.

Wall Street's main indexes hit a one-month high on Wednesday, boosted by upbeat earnings from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, with a multi-billion dollar deal in the fintech sector also helping a risk-on trade.

Bank shares drove Wall Street's main indexes to a one-month high on Wednesday after strong earnings from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, with a multi-billion dollar deal in the fintech sector also helping a risk-on sentiment.

U.S. financial technology provider Fiserv Inc said on Wednesday it will buy payment processor First Data Corp in a $22 billion all-stock deal, the biggest ever acquisition in a booming market in digital payments technology.

Wall Street was set to extend gains on Wednesday, after hitting a four-week high in the previous session, as strong earnings from Goldman Sachs and Bank of America as well as a $22 billion deal in the fintech sector lifted sentiment.

Global blockchain company The Bitfury Group, valued recently at $1 billion, announced on Wednesday the launch of a music and entertainment division that will create an open-source music platform secured by the bitcoin blockchain.

HSBC has settled $250 billion (194.15 billion) worth of forex trades using blockchain in the last year, it said on Monday, suggesting the heavily hyped technology is gaining traction in a sector until now hesitant to embrace it.

HSBC has settled $250 billion worth of forex trades using blockchain in the last year, it said on Monday, suggesting the heavily hyped technology is gaining traction in a sector until now hesitant to embrace it.

French companies have this week revealed some 60 million euros ($69 million) of lost business from anti-government protests rocking the country, which could augur badly for the likes of supermarket chains Casino and Carrefour.

Cryptocurrency exchanges and traders in Asia are struggling to insure themselves against the risk of hacks and theft, a factor they claim is deterring large fund managers from investing in a nascent market yet to be embraced by regulators.

Blockchain startup Digital Asset's chief executive officer and one of the most prominent supporters of the distributed ledger technology on Wall Street, Blythe Masters, is stepping down after about four years in the role, the company said on Tuesday.

U.S. law enforcement officials on Friday were investigating a wave of hoax emailed bomb threats demanding bitcoin payment that caused worry but no damage in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

U.S. law enforcement officials on Friday were probing a wave of hoax emailed bomb threats demanding bitcoin payment that caused worry but no damage in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand a day earlier.

A rash of bomb threats were emailed on Thursday to hundreds of businesses, public offices and schools across the United States and Canada demanding payment in cryptocurrency, but none of the threats appeared credible, law enforcement officials said. (BTC)

U.S. blockchain investment firm Pantera Capital said on Thursday approximately a quarter of the fund's capital was invested in projects or digital assets that may not have been compliant with U.S. securities regulations.

Basis, a cryptocurrency project that in April announced it had raised $133 million from a slew of high profile investors, said on Thursday that it was shutting down and returning the funds to its backers because of regulatory concerns.

NEW YORK, Dec 13 (LPC) - Brazil's Ita Unibanco completed Latin America's first-ever club loan through a blockchain platform this month, and while the transaction paves the way for the region's banks to test the ledger technology, doubts linger over its transparency.

United Arab Emirates-based UAE Exchange and U.S. startup Ripple plan to launch cross-border remittances to Asia via blockchain by the first quarter of 2019, UAE Exchange's group CEO said in an interview.

Cryptocurrency startup AriseBank will pay $2.3 million to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle accusations of defrauding investors through claims such as building a cryptocurrency bank.

Fintech startup Plaid has raised $250 million in its latest funding round led by one of Silicon Valley's top investors, Mary Meeker, which according to a source familiar with the matter values the company at $2.65 billion.

Fintech startup Plaid has raised $250 million in its latest funding round led by one of Silicon Valley's top investors, Mary Meeker, which according to a source familiar with the matter values the company at $2.65 billion.

Bitcoin's value has plunged by three-quarters this year, sending the original and biggest cryptocurrency back to levels not seen before its bubble. And price isn't the only aspect of trading that has changed. (BTC)

The venture capital arm of quantitative hedge fund manager Two Sigma has backed Trustology, a young company that develops technology to help investors safeguard digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, the companies said on Thursday.

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two Iranians for exchanging Bitcoin digital currency into rials and indicted two others for hacking as part of a ransomware scheme known as SamSam that it said extorted millions of dollars. (BTC)

Mobile payment services such as Apple Pay could run into reimbursement problems in some instances, and fintech firms in general must be more sensitive to risks, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said on Tuesday.

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay despite a prolonged slump this year, and will gain wider acceptance after the recent entry of more institutional investors in the space, Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, said on Tuesday.